How gorgeous! The Zócalo of Mexico City will be transformed into a monumental offering to receive the Mexicans who have already departed from that world. For this reason, on Monday, October 25, the lights were turned on with decorations for the Day of the Dead. It should be noted that it is the first time in history that a lighting has been placed for this reason.
The main design, which hangs on Avenida 20 de Noviembre, is inspired by the Chickpea Calvera of José Guadalupe Posada, a character who would later become the famous catrina. The main reason was to pay homage to the illustrator, who is celebrating his 170th birthday.
La Calavera Garbancera took time to become popular, since initially Posada was an artist on the margins. However, Diego Rivera was in charge of recovering his work and today he is one of the main characters in the Day of the Dead celebrations.
For the installation of the lighting, the workers of Urban Services of Mexico City used 12,000 LED spotlights, 8 km of power cable, 4 kilometers of frost and 2 kilometers of luminous hose.
These are three sets of lights: two in the buildings of the Palacio del Ayuntamiento and one that hangs on November 20. In addition to La Catrina, representations of cempasuchil flowers were also placed.
Monumental Offering for the Day of the Dead in the Zócalo
In addition to the above, from October 28 it will be possible to visit the Monumental Offering of the Zócalo, which will be available until November 2. It will have 32 catrinas – one for each state of the Republic.
“Each offering will be different, because each state has a different way of carrying out this tradition,”
said the undersecretary of Cultural Development of the federal Ministry of Culture, Marina Nuñez Bespalova.
In each of these monumental catrinas you will be able to learn about the Day of the Dead traditions of each state, its rituals, the style of its offerings, the types of rugs and papel picado. There will also be musical performances of each entity.
Finally, on October 31 there will be an unprecedented celebration. Starting at 8 pm, representatives of all the towns will set up the offering with food, music and all the traditional elements.
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Rodrigo Osegueda Philosopher by training. Contemplate the soul and imagination of Mexico.